Bloodstains in the Snow
by RohannaFalcon
Summary: In which a certain troll accidentally finds himself the leader of a rebellion movement against the social caste, purely by chance and some on-the-spot stupid decisions which may turn out to be good in the end. Rated for swears. But if you're looking at Homestuck stuff, chances are you're pretty much used to swearing by now.
1. Chapter 1

What was he doing here?

Karkat stared out the frost-coated window and breathed into his sleeves, trying to warm his hands.

Of all the places to run and hide, why Troll Canada?

Of course, he knew perfectly well why. It was one of the few planets not actively ruled over by Her Imperious Condescencion. The drones couldn't patrol this snowy semiwasteland. It was too cold for them- and most trolls- to function, making it uninhabitable for anyone blueblood and up. It was barely tolerable for teal to olive. Anything lower than that would be okay, as long as they didn't try to do something stupid like live outside in the snow.

In short, Troll Canada was the ideal place for the leader of a troll revolution to hide.

He was alone in a small stone hive. It was well insulated, and there was a small fire burning. He could see the snow-covered landscape through the one-way windows. Karkat sighed, lifting his head slightly, and his breath fogged up the glass.

What had he been thinking of? He clearly remembered the day he singledhandedly (literally, singlehandedly) managed to blow the social world to smithereens-

_"No, no, no," his Karkat, clutching his hand and ducking behind a curtain in a building site. Red oozed between his fingers, and his eyes were wide with panic. His breath caught as he heard movement deeper in the site, but rather than the dormant drone he was expecting, it was just a pile of cloth that had caught the wind._

_He was so dead. So, so very dead._

_How he had managed to wound himself in the middle of a city on their market day when everyone was around, he had no idea. He just remembered a sharp pain, and the idea that pain usually led to blood and therefore he should get the fuck out while he still could._

_He took his fingers away and watched the blood spill over his hands. Jesus christ. This was not good. He leaned against a steel-gray wall- it was actually made of steel- and looked up, catching a glimpse of dark sky through the cloth covering of the site._

_He paused, then turned away from the wall, taking a step back to look at it. Hmm. An idea slowly surfaced in his mind, then crashed into reality like a finbeast breaching the water when he saw the smeary blotch of red that he had already left on the smooth gray surface._

_Before he knew what he was doing, he stepped up and touched the blood sample, smearing the blotch into an elegant curve that looped up into a circle. He drew another and saw the Signless's symbol staring back at him, and had the sudden urge to splash water on it and act like it had never existed._

_Too late now! Stupid ideas were the best._

_He clawed off a section of the black fabric of his shirt and wrapped it around his hand (he had already ruined plenty of good shirts this way, it was no big deal), stopping the flow of blood, and backed away. He just needed to get away, now, and promptly did so, running through the site and away, away, forgetting what he had done and what it might do._

_The sign was discovered later, and Karkat spent a day and a half in complete and utter panic, knowing that they could analyze it for DNA and maybe know it was him? He wasn't even sure if that was possible, but he didn't want to take any chances, and what had he been thinking he had nothing to fall back on if they came for him-_

Then he had been contacted.

His husktop chimed gently. Next to it sat a wireless booster. There was wireless on pretty much any planet, even Troll Canada, which had also been called the Big Empty Planet Full Of Nothing And Snow.

Twofold2: hey kk  
Signborn: DON'T CALL ME THAT, I TOLD YOU.  
Twofold2: kk there ii2 nobody el2e here but u2  
Signborn: ARE YOU IMPLYING SOMETHING?  
Twofold2: ehehe, no.  
Twofold2: anyway2 how2 iit goiing?  
Signborn: I MADE IT SAFELY.  
Twofold2: oh good  
Signborn: SO WHAT NOW?  
Twofold2: hang tiight untiil 2ome operatiive2 get two you. theyre haviing a liitle trouble becau2e of the 2now.  
Signborn: OH, GREAT.  
Signborn: HOW LONG DO YOU THINK I'LL BE STUCK HERE FOR?  
Signborn: HEY!  
Signborn: HELLO?  
-Twofold2 has gone offline!-  
-Correspondance ended. The log will self-destruct in thirty seconds.-

Karkat slammed his hand down and leaned back. Great. Twofold2 was pulling his cryptic shenanigans again. He still had yet to figure out if the 2 in Twofold2 was supposed to make it sound like Twofolds or if it really was just a 2.

Something outside roared. Karkat glanced at the window, wondering about the safety of the Big Empty, and decided it was probably some kind of random wild animal.

However, when the roaring continued, he frowned and stood, glancing out the window. Something was streaking through the atmosphere, trailing smoke. The object grew nearer, and Karkat could see that it was a ship- small, black and yellow, and on fire. Lightning- red and blue- crackled around it.

Whatever the lighting was doing, it failed to do anything except maybe make the ship fall faster, until Karkat realized that it had turned in direction away from a mountaintop. The ship fell further and slammed into the forest with a deafening explosion. Karkat nearly fell over with the shock wave that passed.

He bit his lip. If he went out there, and it was a hostile, then they might try to kill him. But if it was just some helpless troll, or maybe even a supporter…..

He made up his mind and grabbed a large coat. He nabbed his sickles on the way out the door, zipping the coat up, and trekked through the snowy forest for ten minutes. Most trolls had an impeccable sense of direction, and he used his to guide himself directly to the crash site.

He knew where it was, because there was steam from the hit rising off the ground where the ship had melted and evaporated the snow in a mere instant. He passed through the last few trees that were still standing and stared.

The craft's wings were broken off and scattered around the clearing, along with some of the hull, which was buckled and caved in. Various things were scattered around the clearing in the dryish ground. Karkat clambered over the downed tree branches and tramped over- he could feel heat emenating from the blackened husk of the ship. He peered inside and saw an odd array of things, including the remnants of a control board and what appeared to be some kind of thing that you would put either your head or a watermelon in, probably the former. He had no idea what it was, nor did he really care all that much.

He backed away from the ship and glanced around, and his heart jumped when he noticed figure, clad in what appeared to be a rather baggy yellow jumpsuit with black designs, lying motionlessly in the snow near a large rock. Karkat trudged over as quickly as possible and knelt by him. "Hey… Hello?" he growled.

To his relief, the figure stirred with a groan, frowning. Karkat poked his shoulder, and the troll- he had four horns? weird- opened his eyes blearily and glared at him. Karkat blinked- one eye was solid red, and the other solid blue. They weren't alert, though- even without pupils or irises, Karkat could tell he was injured just by the fact that the eyes were glassy, glazed over with a thin yellow tint. There was no way this guy was feeling anything but shock and maybe pain right now.

Then the mystery troll realized what was going on and tried to sit up. It worked, but a second later, he muttered "oh, god" and rolled to his hands and knees to vomit in the snow. Concussion, Karkat thought instantly. Shit.

He spat out a good quantity of thick yellow blood, and looked slightly alarmed. Karkat put his hand around the troll's shoulders. "Easy," he tried.

The yellowblood was shivering violently. He coughed a few times, spitting out a little more golden-yellow to stain the snow. Then he dragged a sleeve across his face and sat back, trying to breath normally, eyes half-closed.

Karkat took off his coat and offered it to the troll, who nodded his thanks, although the movement caused him to generate a bunch of small red and blue sparks which danced around his hair for a moment before going out. He winced.

"C'mon, there's a hive nearby," Karkat said, deciding that there was no way he could leave this guy here. "Can you make it that far?"

"How far away ith it?" responded the troll weakly, speaking in conversation for the first time.

"Ten minute's walk. Come on." Karkat stood and hauled the other troll- who was, annoyingly, taller than him, but who wasn't- to his feet and began to walk.

The yellowblood, clutching the jacket around him, didn't say anything else. He started out walking okay, but soon began to stumble over random objects, and when they were two minutes or so from the hive he made a strange noise and collapsed. Karkat shouted in surprise and jumped. Aw, hell.

He dragged the troll to his temporary hive, through the snow, and managed to load him into the vacant recuperacoon, after pulling his jacket, shit, and shoes off. He reclaimed his coat and left the troll to sleep, leaving some food heating up over the fire. Yes, over the motherfucking fire. How primitive could you get? Ugh.

He pulled the coat on and went back out to look through the wreck. There was plenty of important-looking electronic stuff, and he collected pretty much anything that looked like it still worked. He also took the pilot's clothes, ay food, and anything else that looked important, such as a small spiralbound notebook.

When he returned, the troll-who-crashed-his-ship-into-Canada-like-a-total-fucking-idiot was still asleep. Karkat tossed the stuff next to the fire and sat down on the couch-thing, staring at the flames.

Who was this guy? He had no idea. He had a faint inkling that somehow this guy was important, but he wasn't sure.

Instead, he dropped his train of thought and swamped his mind with a peaceful nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

The night was progressing towards morning when Karkat heard a faint noise. His ears picked it up instantly and he turned his head slightly to see the mystery troll with his arms draped over the edge of the recuperacoon. His eyes were half-open, and he looked incredibly confused and bleary.

"You're awake," Karkat growled, for lack of anything else to say.

The other troll stared at him, with the perfect _no-shit-really? _expression. Karkat shrugged in his own defense and remained where he was, legs crossed, leaning on one elbow.

The troll coughed once, an awkward throat-clearing cough, and said, "Thankth."

Karkat didn't comment on his lisp. The troll was clearly more lucid now, and didn't appear to be in anywhere near as bad a shape as he had been earlier. Trolls healed extremely quickly because they were injured all the time. "Sure," he said.

The troll paused again, chewing on one side of his lip with one of his ridiculously oversized fangs. "…what happened?"

"You crashed your ship into the planet," Karkat responded, almost stumbling on the word 'the' and nearly saying 'my' for some reason. Sometimes it seemed as if he owned the planet. He was the only one here, after all. "I'm honestly surprised you're awake right now."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the severe head injury?"

The troll frowned, then reached up and felt his head in one swift movement, as if he were used to doing that. "No, no head injury," he said after a moment. "That wath overegtherthion."

Karkat quirked an eyebrow at the mangled word. The troll frowned again, this time wearily, as if this annoying problem had dogged him forever (which it probably had) and he really wanted to be rid of it (which he probably did). "Thtupid lithp," he muttered. "Anyway. Can you tell me what planet thith ith?"

"Troll Canada," Karkat answered.

"Any thpethific plathe?"

"There are places on Troll Canada?"

"…good point." The troll shifted. "Well, I wath headed for here anywayth. Uh… who are you?"

"…" Karkat paused. "Who are you?"

"I athked firtht!"

"I'm not telling."

"Fine," said the other, sinking a little lower and setting his chin on the hard edge of the recuperacoon for a few seconds while thinking. He lifted his head again with a sigh and rattled off a quick list of basic information, evidently used to doing this. "Thollukth Captor, yellowblood, pthionic, theven thweepth." He winced at the way he butchered the language. "Ugh."

Karkat made an odd face, a rather confused frown. "Th… Sollux?"

"Yeah."

"…" Familiar. Very, very familiar. He wasn't sure why, but suddenly everything indicated to him that he could trust this guy. "Karkat Vantas, seven sweeps." He casually left out the blood color. Maybe the guy wouldn't notice.

"…oh my god."

The yellowblood's eyes widened. Karkat shifted slightly uncomfortably, glancing down at his palm, where a light gray scar slashed itself across the skin of his hand. It had healed a while ago, but the scar was unmistakable, and he half hoped it would be there forever, half hoped it would fade and he could forget it was ever there. "What?" he snapped, hoping to avert the attention to it.

"Thignborn."

Karkat froze, half rising from his position and wavering there, caught between leaping away, and running at him. "What."

"You're Thignborn? You?!"

"How do you know that." The well-worn leather of the handle of Karkat's sickles warmed instantly to his touch as he casually slid his hand to his side and curled his fingers around the grip. He could grab one instantly, the other was a little harder to inconspicuously take, but ten seconds and he wouldn't need to be inconspicuous. Had he been wrong to trust this guy?

Sollux, inexplicably, grinned. "Wow."

"How do you know who I am?!" Karkat lunged forwards, drawing both sickles in a practiced movement and reaching up to hook both ends around Sollux's neck and maybe kill him if need be-

A light purplish haze, shot through with more distinct streaks of red and blue static, caught the tips and prevented Karkat from moving any further. "Eathy, KK, chill your hornth," Sollux muttered. There were faint static crackles surrounding his eyes, and one hand was stretched towards Karkat almost lazily.

Karkat paused, then processed this, although it took him a few seconds. When he finally realized what Sollux had just called him, he froze again, not even trying to tug his sickles out of the mist-haze. "Wait, what?"

"You heard me. You wouldn't want to kill me, trutht me." Sollux gave him a rather cheerful half-smirk. "Remember me?"

"Wait, are you saying you're someone I've- oh, you," Karkat managed, and remembered where he knew the name from. Sollux had told it to him. Duh. But he had been all paranoid about names and hadn't let him say it ever again. "You're Twofold."

"And the latht hoofbeatht crothheth the finish line," Sollux said, releasing the sickles so suddenly that Karkat stumbled backwards and had to regain his composure suddenly. He felt himself go a bit red in indignation, but managed to stay upright. Sollux leaned his head in one hand, resting his elbow on the recuperacoon edge.

"Shut up," Karkat growled.

Sollux chuckled again. "You know you don't care," he laughed.

Karkat nearly just threw an entire string of insults at him, but settled for, "You're a fucking loser, I hope you know that. What are you even doing here?"

"I'm actually here for a reathon."

"And that would be?" Karkat stuffed the sickles back in their holsters (yes, he had holsters, yes, they were awesome, yes, everyone else could shut the fuck up and deal with it).

"I came here to find you. Tho, I win, I guethh." Sollux shrugged. "But my shop got shot pathhing Troll Cuba, by pirateth from Troll Thomalia." He rolled his eyes(not that it was easy to tell, but he moved his whole head so Karkat could see that at least something was going on there). "Tho my landing wath a little iffy."

"You crashed, destroyed your ship, almost set the forest on fire, killed some trees, barfed up blood, and fainted," Karkat said flatly. "Shittiest landing ever."

"I dunno, there'th been worthe."

Karkat flopped down in the chair next to his desk. "Okay, whatever. Why'd you come?"

"To keep you thafe."

"What." Karkat eyed him, almost laughing. Sollux, keep him safe? Karkat was a pretty proficient fighter-

-and then he remembered the easy, lazy way in which Sollux had stopped his swift attack. A flick of the fingers and he could barely move. Oh.

Oh whoops Sollux was talking. "I wath athhigned. I don't know how they ekthpect me to keep up with my computer work, though… I'm pretty sure all my thtuff got burned or dethtroyed in the crash."

"I actually went and got a bunch of your shit from the wreck," Karkat said, standing up again and ambling over to the bag. He nudged it with his toe, then turned back to Sollux. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a pair of oddly colored glasses, one side a bit bent. "And these. Yours?"

Sollux perked up a bit. "Yeah, thothe are mine. What elthe did you find?"

"A bag full of your shit," Karkat reiterated, and pointed towards it. "Anything that wasn't broken and a bag of 'personal belongings' that were in there." He set the glasses on the table and bent, pulling a smaller bag, and tossed it. Sollux reached out and caught it in one hand, the strap, and the rest of it thumped softly against the recuperacoon shell and lay there. He hefted it and nodded. "What kind of tech thtuff?"

"Random stuff."

"Lemme see," Sollux urged, leaning over the edge of the 'coon a bit.

"If you fall out, I'm not catching you," Karkat snapped. "It was hard enough dragging your ass through the snow."

"Did you drag me _by_ the athh?"

"What? No!"

"Ehehehe."

And, for a second, they weren't a criminal hacker mastermind and the leader of a rebellion, hunted and outcast- they were just two young trolls, teasing and laughing with casual insults and the occasional friendly blow.

"Oh, fuck you," Karkat muttered, rummaging in the bag. "Take your stupid lightning and shove it up your- ow!" He wrenched his arm backwards, as if stung.

"What?"

Karkat lifted his hand out of the bag, examining one finger. "Dammit. Caught my hand on something and it's bleeding." He put the hurt finger in his mouth, frowning sourly.

Sollux chewed on his lip, hesitating, and then blurted, "KK, ith your blood really red?"

"Wh…" Karkat trailed off. He dropped the hem of the bag, stood, and strode over to Sollux, then held up the finger. Bright candy red dripped from a small cut in the back of his index finger. "What do you think? It hasn't changed since I painted the Singless symbol on a wall with it." He revealed his palm, and the gray scar.

Sollux stared. "Tho that thtory really ith true…"

"Story? It's facts, bitch," Karkat snapped, pulling his hand away. "…Point is, yes, it's red."

"Wow."

Karkat glanced at the liquid felony and casually stemmed the ruby flow with the black fabric of his t-shirt. "Got get cleaned off and put some fucking clothes on," he snapped, changing the subject.

Sollux laughed and eased himself out of the recuperacoon. He tried not to drip on anything and disappeared into the bathroom (Karkat refused to use the highblood terms).

As soon as Sollux left, Karkat pushed the bag-o-stuff away from the fire and sprawled himself on the floor. He preferred to sit like this and think, and his thoughts drifted off into a miasma of confusion, mixing the rebellion with his old life, and he couldn't splice them together. He wondered if they had killed his lusus yet. Hopefully not. The lusus' blood was technically taboo too, so he would be up for death…

Karkat suddenly felt guilty that he hadn't taken the crabby animal with him when he had left Alternia. He hoped he was okay.

If Sollux worked for his cause, was Sollux's lusus dead too?

Who exactly was Sollux?


	3. Chapter 3

He pulled his thoughts away from the guy using his bathroom and considered what else was going on right now.

Troll Britain was considering an alliance with the Empire- with the Condesce. However, Troll Mexico had already secretly allied with Troll Canada and Troll Australia under the name of the Signless Reborn- hence Karkat's title, Signborn. Hey, he didn't pick it.

Seven sweeps old, and he had control over three planets.

He rubbed his head, finger stinging. Okay. Accept Troll Mexico, send another message to the lowbloods and the highblood supporters on Alternia. The Heiress. They had to talk to her. Because the Condesce had abandoned the universe and was MIA, her evil horrorterror lusus Gyb'golyb had selected an Heiress to rule in her stead when she grew a bit older.

And the Heiress was kind.

Karkat, secretly of course, was going to arrange a meeting with her and ask her to overthrow the previous regime after her coronation and establish equality for all blood colors.

He was going to do that soon.

He was going to do that when he could get out of this damn snow and off this damn planet.

His computer beeped. He raised his head, then scrambled up answered it, flopping down in the rolling chair and swearing softly when it moved without him wanting it to.

Incoming message from: Fishfood

What the hell kind of a username was that? Karkat narrowed his eyes, but he had some idea of who it could be.

Fishfood: So, um!  
Fishfood: Signborn?  
Signborn: HELLO, HEIRESS.  
Fishfood: )(ello!  
Signborn: HONORED TO MEET YOU.  
Signborn: TALK TO YOU OVER THE NET. WHATEVER.  
Fishfood: O)(, the )(onor is all mine!  
Fishfood: But I )(ave some bad news!  
Signborn: WHAT?  
Fishfood: T)(e government on Alternia dispatc)(ed drones today to control t)(e populace.  
Fishfood: Wit)(out asking M-E!  
Fishfood: Like t)(ey don't fink me as authority yet!  
Signborn: CAN THEY DO THAT?  
Fishfood: Like S)(—ELL t)(ey can do t)(at!  
Signborn: OH, SHIT.  
Signborn: WHY?  
Fishfood: It was a group of lowbloods )(olding a peaceful protest!  
Fishfood: Apparently t)(ey labeled it a DISTURBANC-E OF TH-E P-EACE and used drones wit)(out asking becoast it wasn't IMPORTANT –ENOUG)( TO N—E—ED MY APPROVAL!  
Signborn: ANY DEATHS?  
Fishfood: Not)(ing Y-ET… 38(  
Signborn: WHAT ARE THEY DOING THERE, THEN?  
Fishfood: Sort of patrolling…  
Fishfood: Oh glub!  
Fishfood: They're trying to breaker up the protest!  
Fishfood: S)(OTS AR-E B-EING FIR-ED! 38(  
Signborn: CAN YOU STOP THEM?  
Fishfood: Bereef me, I'm TRYING!  
Signborn: HOLY SHIT.  
Signborn: THIS HAS TO STOP.  
Fishfood: I'm sending out t)(e command to stop t)(em but it mig)(t be too late…!  
Fishfood: I'm reely mad aboat this!  
Signborn: SO AM I.  
Signborn: IT WAS A FUCKING PEACEFUL PROTEST! WHAT THE FUCK- WHO THE FUCK GAVE THAT ORDER ANYWAYS?  
Fishfood: I don't know… 38(  
Signborn: WELL FUCK.  
Signborn: WHEN IS THIS MEETING HAPPENING?  
Signborn: OUR MEETING.  
Fishfood: As soon as possible!  
Signborn: AGREED.  
Signborn: THIS IS BAD. BUT IT WILL RILE UP THE MOVEMENT ON OTHER PLANETS.  
Fishfood: OO)(! I get to know aboat t)(ese fins now?  
Signborn: YES, TO SOME EXTENT, BECAUSE YOU'RE GOING TO BE SPONSORING ME.  
Signborn: BUT, HEIRESS, I HAVE A QUESTION.  
Fishfood: Go a)(ead and ask!  
Signborn: WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?  
Signborn: IF WE SUCCEED, THERE'S A CHANCE YOU'LL LOSE THE THRONE. IF WE DON'T, YOU MIGHT EVEN BE HUNTED DOWN AND ASSASSINATED.  
Signborn: WHY TAKE THE CHANCE?  
Fishfood: I don't CAR-E if I lose my t)(rone! I know t)(is is t)(e rig)(t t)(ing to do.  
Fishfood: I mean, I HOP-E I can still be ruler, because nobody –ELS-E can control Gyb'golyb.  
Fishfood: BUT, if I DO get )(unted down and trolls try to krill me, at L—EAST I'll know t)(at I've at least TRI-ED to )(elp c)(ange w)(at's )(appening. I can't NOT do somefin!  
Signborn: …  
Signborn: I HOPE YOU STAY. BECAUSE YOU WILL BE THE BEST EMPRESS.  
Fishfood: T)(ANK YOU! 38D  
Signborn: THANK YOU FOR SPONSORING US.  
Fishfood: Keep me UPDAT—ED!  
Signborn: OF COURSE, HEIRESS.  
Signborn: WHEN IS YOUR CORONATION AGAIN?  
Fishfood: Sometime t)(is sweep.  
Fishfood: O)( NO!  
Fishfood: T)(-E DRON-ES KILL-ED TW-ELV-E P-EOPL-E!  
Fishfod: I HAV-E TO GO, SORRY!  
Signborn: DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO.  
Signborn: THANK YOU.  
-ceased transmission-  
-message will self-destruct in 24 seconds-

Karkat sat back, then went and laid on the floor again. Drones out free on Alternia. He could send troops to help from Troll Britain… but that would be basically declaring war on the current Empress, who was a few days away from being declared dead, because the new Empress was ready. Then the rebellion would really start having an effect- with the Empress-to-be supporting them, all they had to do was eliminate the few who stood against the idea, then reset society.

Hahahahahahaha it sounded so easy.

Karkat had faint hopes for a near-bloodless coup, but he knew it wasn't going to happen. The highbloods in particular were going to be extremely averse to the idea of no longer having ultimate and total superiority over most of the race.

Karkat held his hand in front of his face and stared at the tiny smear of red blood that still remained.

This was him, now. He was holding the balance of this galaxy, and maybe more, maybe beyond the Empire and maybe over and through the universe, in these fingers filled with his strange, fate-marked, disgusting mutant blood.

It was too much to believe.

He closed his eyes and laid back down on the floor, unmoving, and tried to not think about how many people could die because of him. What brought him back from his thoughts was a gentle nudge to his hand.

"Uh, KK?"

Karkat cracked one eye open to see Sollux crouching worriedly over him. He blinked both eyes open and stared back, too pissed off and tired to be embarrassed about this. "What."

Sollux's expression cleared, and he sat back. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Karkat sad, struggling into a sitting position. "Just thinking."

"You lie on the floor to think?"

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?"

Sollux gazed at him for a moment, expression perfectly unreadable, then shook his head and looked away. "No."

This was given an odd glance, and Karkat leaned against the couch. "There's food over there," he said, nodding towards the fire. He had made something out of the thermal hull- REFRIGERATOR- in the… the kitchen area. It was probably edible because it smelled kind of good. The flames flickered in the reflection of his eyes, unreadable thoughts collecting in his brain and fluttering there like trapped butterflies.

Sollux collected some food out of the bowl using something he had gotten out of the kitchen and ate some of it. He didn't eat very much. At one point, he paused, put his stuff down, and stared at Karkat. "Aren't you going to eat too, KK?"

"No."

"…you should."

"I'm not hungry."

"Theriouthly, KK, if anyone needth to be healthy and well fed, it'th you."

"I have a lot on my mind, Sollux. Leave me alone," Karkat snapped, and regretted it instantly. Sollux didn't respond, and Karkat hunched his shoulders and continued staring into the fire.

Eventually, Sollux left the room, leaving him to think.

Who knew how many deaths on Alternia now? At least twelve. Because he had asked them to fight for him. He could use that. He had to. It was the Empire's fault, anyway. It was slaughter.

He carried his husktop to the couch and flipped it up, seeing the blank gray screen emblazoned with a bright red Signless sym69l. He found suddenly that the person he intended to message was Sollux.

Welp.

That was a little bit out of the question right now.

Then…

…Aranea.


	4. Chapter 4

Signborn: ARANEA.  
Mindfang: Hello, Sign8orn.  
Mindfang: What can I do for you?  
Signborn: SPARE ME THE THEATRICS. YOU'RE THE MASTER PLANNER HERE, AREN'T YOU?  
Mindfang: Well, I suppose you could say so.  
Signborn: GREAT.  
Signborn: WELL… TODAY, ON ALTERNIA.  
Mindfang: I heard a8out what happened.  
Mindfang: A tragedy.  
Signborn: IT'S NOT OVER YET, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE DEATH COUNT IS UP TO RIGHT NOW.

However, at that precise moment:

Fishfood: Quick update…  
Fishfood: T)(e deat)( count )(ere is up to 48…  
Signborn: HOLY SHIT.  
Fishfood: T)(e drones were called off.  
Signborn: I HAVE TO GO.

Shit.

Signborn: NO, THE HEIRESS JUST TOLD ME WHAT IT'S AT, ACTUALLY. WHICH HAPPENS TO BE FORTY-EIGHT. FUCKING SHIT.  
Mindfang: Oh my.  
Signborn: FILM THE SCENE OF THE  
Signborn: MASSACRE.  
Mindfang: What? Why?  
Mindfang: If I may respectfully question your opinion on this.  
Signborn: THINGS ARE GETTING OUT OF HAND THERE. WE HAVE TO TAKE ALTERNIA, AND SOON. I KNOW IT'S THE BIGGEST PLANET AND THE MOST IMPORTANT- IT'S THE FUCKING BREEDING PLANET. SO IF WE GET THAT, THAT'S GOING TO BE OUR KEY. THE CONDESCENCION CAN'T FEED HER FORCES IF WE HAVE THE PLANET THAT'S BREEDING THEM.  
Signborn: MAKE A VIDEO BASED ON THE MASSACRE. WHERE WAS IT AT?  
Mindfang: Greenwater Shore, sir.  
Signborn: ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS? THAT'S HIGHBLOOD TERRITORY. NO WONDER THEY CALLED OUT THE DRONES.  
Mindfang: I know.  
Signborn: WELL, SEE IF YOU CAN GET SOME PEOPLE IN THERE TO FILM A PROPAGANDA MESSAGE. THE EMPIRE IS TAKING IT'S SUPPRESSION TOO FAR. THOSE TROLLS WERE PERFECTLY INNOCENT OF ANY CRIME.  
Mindfang: We should get Legislac's opinion on that.  
Mindfang: So, you're saying you want to send out a message to all of Alternia pinning the 8lame on the Empire?  
Signborn: IT'S NOT PINNING THE BLAME. IT WAS A PEACEFUL PROTEST, FOR FUCK'S SAKE.  
Mindfang: A8solutely true.  
Mindfang: Would you speak?  
Signborn: ACTUALLY, I MIGHT.  
Signborn: THIS IS REALLY KICKING ONTO GEAR NOW. IF WE TAKE ALTERNIA, WE CAN GET THIS OVER WITH BEFORE MORE BLOOD IS SHED, WHATEVER THE COLOR.  
Mindfang: Well said, sir.  
Mindfang: That's going in the 8ook.  
Signborn: YOUR HISTORY BOOK?  
Signborn: WHATEVER. KNOCK YOURSELF OUT.  
Mindfang: What will you say?  
Mindfang: In the message, that is.  
Signborn: I'M NOT SURE. I'LL FIGURE IT OUT.  
Mindfang: How long?  
Signborn: SHORT AND SWEET.  
Signborn: DID I REALLY JUST SAY THAT  
Signborn: YOU GET THE POINT.  
Mindfang: I do. We can get a lot of good shots.  
Signborn: I'LL SEND YOU THE RECORDING.  
Mindfang: Agreed. I'll tell you what we've got and how much time is open for a speech in the video in the next few days. Then I can get Twofold2 to cre8 it for us.  
Signborn: GREAT, BUT DO YOU KNOW WHERE TWOFOLD2 IS?  
Mindfang: No, not at the moment.  
Signborn: WELL HE'S HERE. HE CRASHED HIS FUCKING SHIP TEN MINUTES WALK FROM MY LOUSY LODGE HIVE.  
Mindfang: Really?  
Mindfang: Well, alright then.

"Can I uthe your huthktop?"

"Holy SHIT," Karkat squawked, and nearly dropped the husktop onto the floor. Sollux leaped nimbly out of the way as Karkat rolled sideways on the couch and flailed out at Sollux with one sickle. A moment later, he scrambled up, slightly livid. "What in the everloving fuck do you think you're doing?" He snarled, face slightly flushed.

"Eathy, KK," Sollux chuckled. He was grinning, fangs protruding over his lower jaw teeth.

Karkat glared at him for a moment, then pulled his computer back onto his lap and tapped out a good-bye to Aranea.

Signborn: LOOK, HE WANTS TO USE MY HUSKTOP, SO I'M GETTING OFF.  
Mindfang: Alright, sir.  
Signborn: STOP CALLING ME SIR.  
Mindfang: Yes, sir.  
Mindfang: Good luck, Sign8orn.

She signed off. Karkat whacked the side of his screen in semi-frustration, and closed his window. He smacked the husktop down on the couch, stood, and stormed over to stand by the fire. "All yours," he snapped in Sollux's general direction.

Sollux clambered over the back of the couch and seated himself where Karkat had been, taking hold of the computer with long, pale fingers. He suddenly looked a lot more capable as he tapped away faster than Karkat could ever hope to try and type.

He went to the bathroom to occupy the time. He slammed the door, then paused, staring at his reflection over the sink. He leaned closer, frowning at himself. His eyes. There was something wr-

-…

He stared a bit closer and became very alarmed. His eyes. The black iris was breaking up, filling rapidly with streaks of bright candy red. He would never be safe again- the drones and security of the Empress would automatically cull anyone with eyes like his, especially after this uprising.

Ahem. For anyone reading this who either has lived under a ROCK their entire lives, or who somehow stumbled across this without knowing, here's the hemospectrum. If you already know what it is, feel free to skip it if you don't wanna hear my descriptions.

- Maroon is the lowest blood color, and the most common. Peasants and servants are mostly maroon-blooded. They also have the shortest lifespans of any caste. They sometimes have psychic capabilities and are often sold as slaves. They're also the most likely class to be able to retain a ghost form after death.

- Brown blood signifies a tame peasantry that the Empire deeply appreciates. Most brownbloods have, to varying degrees, some ability to communicate with or some affinity for animals. This makes them especially useful for handling livestock and farming. Just the perfect peasanty jobs for them. Also sold as slaves quite often, and they also have fairly short lifespans.

- Yellow is the next class, fairly intelligent trolls who are often hatched with very powerful to not-so-powerful psionic abilities. This makes them extremely desirable, as someone who can manipulate their world with the blink of an eye is a good slave to have. Some people even use them to run interplanetary and intergalactic ships, although that's cruel and even by troll standards can be considered a bit twisted.

- Lime is a very boring caste. It's unremarkable in every way except one- the bright candied-cherry red of the Signless and his counterpart the Signborn is a result of a mutation from ordinary lime blood.

- Olive is a low caste which is also fairly unremarkable, only known by their tendency to be strangely attracted to animals and keen to pry into everyone's business and form relationships.

- Jade is one of the lesser-known and uncommon castes. Jade-blooded trolls are few and far between, for they serve only one purpose- they tend to the Virgin Mother Grub and help raise new Mother Grubs. They are called auxilitrixes. They are perfectly capable of standing the blistering rays of the hot Alternian sun, and some of them even enjoy it.

- Teal is a strange and somewhat confusing class, at times. They are given to form strangely accented senses of perception. Other than that, they are unremarkable.

- Cerulean bloods are somewhat rare, mostly harmless, and rather boring. However, some of them can have intense mutations which give them various powers such as the ability to control other trolls' minds and bodies. They are cunning and manipul8ive.

- Blue-blooded trolls are uninteresting for the most part.

- Indigo is a very dangerous caste. They have a high liability to be capriciously completely bonkers and are often only subdued with large amounts of sopor slime or other drugs. Being the highest-ranking land caste, however, their murderous tendencies are often condoned, unnoticed, or even encouraged and almost worshipped.

- Violetbloods mark the turning point in the hemospectral range. There are various subtle hues and shades of purple among the violet hierarchy, and all are aquatic variations of the landdwelling trolls. They possess ear fins and gills, and are able to breath under water. They are the royalty of the race and are allowed to do absolutely anything they please, which includes sailing the sea and plundering small villages of lowerbloods, and stealing all their loot, and killing the people.

- Tyrian purple is perhaps the rarest caste aside from the red variation of lime. This cast can communicate with horrorterros and the Speaker Of The Vast Glub, Gyb'golyb, who resides in the Alternian ocean and determines the fate of the millions of psychically sensitive trolls there and the trillions throughout the galaxy. Gyb'golyb must be fed the lusii of other trolls in order to keep her happy, or else she'll start speaking, which, if it grows loud enough, will kill every single troll except for the Imperious Condescencion herself. Often, tyrian-blooded trolls do not survive past their wriggler stage- they are culled instantly unless the current Empress is failing in her health. This caste is the epitome of strength, perfection, power, and beauty among trolls, royal seadwellers with wealth immeasurable who can have anything they want, except perhaps friends. They are very busy- keeping Gyb'golyb fed and preventing the annihilation of every troll in the universe is a heavy burden to bear.

Now that THAT'S out of the way, can we get BACK TO THE FUCKING STORY PLEASE?

THANK you.

Karkat rubbed at his eyes, further bruising the already damaged skin there, and causing it to darken a bit more and redden slightly. Ugh how utterly disgusting. He ran one hand through his hair, then straightened himself.

He went back into the main area of the hive. Sollux was staring out a window. It was snowing in the gathering light.

Karkat sighed. Sollux glanced over at him.

"Everything okay?" the yellowblood queried, and Karkat nodded. Sollux didn't seem convinced, but didn't press the point, which Karkat actually appreciated.

They stood there for what seemed like hours. Karkat leaned on the windowsill next to Sollux, resting his head on his folded arms. Sollux propped his head in one hand and tapped on the wooden sill with his claws idly. Both were deep in thought.

"You should get thome thleep," Sollux finally said, rousing Karkat. The shorter troll shook his head.

"I'm not tired," he growled. "You go ahead."

Sollux looked at him, and saw that it had to be argued. "Karkat, when wath the latht time you thlept?"

Karkat remained silent, brows furrowed. He shivered suddenly.

Sollux, without thinking, reached over and ruffled Karkat's hair. "I can thtay awake, you know, tho it'th not a big deal if you-"

"You're injured," Karkat interrupted, crossing his arms now. "I am not sleeping."

"KK-"

"And don't call me that."

There were a few seconds of injured silence, and Karkat looked away from Sollux's form on his left and bit his lower lip, hard enough to hurt. Why was he such a jerk to Sollux? He hated himself for doing that.

"…fine," Sollux finally said, and moved away. He rid himself of his clothes- no sense in getting them covered with slime- and clambered in. When he fell asleep, Karkat remained by the window until the far-off sun forced him to recede from the window and curl up on the couch, close to the warmth of the fire, blinds drawn the snowy planet and the universe beyond.


	5. Chapter 5

Karkat did not have pleasant dreams.

He was much more tired than he had originally let on, and drifted asleep on the couch, the light from the sun managing to eke its way through the window and bother him a bit.

But not enough to keep him awake, as he had hoped. He wasn't sure what happened in his dreams- more of nightmares, because of the lack of psychic-insulation slime- but they weren't fun. He vaguely recalled darkness, lots of it, and a sort of endless drifting expanse full of strange monsters that appeared to be from either hell or the same place Gyb'golyb hailed from.

There were also lots of his dead friends, such as Kanaya and Aranea, and also he was covered in their blood.

There also, now that he thought about it, had been a battlefield full of the bodies of dead trolls, their blood pooling in a rainbow miasma on the ground, lacking only one color- his bright red. The colors had soaked his gray and black clothing and spattered on his skin, bits of color and gray flesh stuck under his claws. He stared down in horror at his hands, then up at the world- it was Alternia, the birthing world, the original planet of the trolls. The planet where their lives began, and now it was turned into a mass grave site. He had stumbled away from the field, without even anyone to guide him, past the bodies of Kanaya and Aranea and the Heiress and Nepeta- dear Nepeta- and then there was a battered and bloody Gamzee, killed for his highblood status, with his killer- an unknown young troll wearing the Signless' symbol on his makeshift armor- lying dead at his side... there was a bruised and torn Vriska, barely alive, sprawled in a ditch, and a bleeding Tavros with one horn snapped in half...

The list had gone on, his dreams systematically dropping every one of his known friends onto the field with him, where they each were either already dead, or dying, in which case they died in his hands as he tried and failed to save them.

Finally, there was Sollux, who was sprawled next to the wreckage of a battleship. His limbs were twisted and broken, and his face was set in a mask of agony. The ship still crackled with two colors of lightning. As Karkat watched, Sollux twitched and coughed, blinking slowly, and Karkat knelt next to him. Blood gushed from a diagonal slash in the yellowblood's chest, pouring over Karkat's hands as he hovered over the other troll.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Are you okay?" Sollux asked, which was odd, and then Karkat blinked a few times and realized that Sollux, in reality, was leaning over him concernedly, while Karkat was lying on the floor, twitching, with his hands trapped under the table.

"I'm fine," he muttered, confused, and then realized that his hands were still wet and oddly sticky, and when he pulled his hands out from under the table there were claw marks on both arms, on the insides, and blood all over them and the floor.

"Oh, shit!" Sollux blurted, astonished and slightly afraid.

"Oh," said Karkat. "Not fine." He blinked a few times, suddenly realizing that his arms were arms with fiery streaks of pain running up and down them. "Ouch."

"Jethuth, KK, you fell athleep, didn't you- I should have- hold on." Sollux disappeared from Karkat's view and there was the sound of feet padding, and then he reappeared after a minute, then gently reached for and grasped one of Karkat's arms. Karkat winced, narrowing his eyes and drawing in a breath, but he didn't make any other notion of how painful this process really was.

Sollux gave a little _rrrrrr_ing apology sound, and Karkat made an answering noise that was a small 'hmph.' He glanced up to see the other troll's heterochromatic eyes crinkle slightly in a hint of a smile, and then his attention was distracted as Sollux mercilessly swabbed the claw scratches with some sort of burning, stinging antiseptic.

"HOLY FUCKING MOTHER GRUB," Karkat half-growled, half-shouted, kicking his feet into the carpet in frustration and pain.

"Oh, deal with it, you little wiggler," Sollux muttered, adjusting his grip. He finished one arm and carefully taped some gauze pads on, then wrapped it in a bandage while Karkat hit various things to deal with the pain, including Sollux, twice.

Sollux promptly snatched Karkat's other wrist and held his arm as steady as possible while Karkat scrambled to get away, unable to even hit things with his free arm now because it was all bandaged and hurting and he really didn't feel like making it hurt more.

When he was finally released, he scrambled away and curled up in the corner of the couch, glowering balefully at Sollux. The other troll shrugged in apology and packed up the medical kit that was a must-have in any hive, because after all, trolls had a lot of pointy ends, and a lot of pointy things around their hives, and thus they tended to get injured fairly often.

"Tho," Sollux said conversationally, and gave Karkat a scorching look.

"I didn't know I was going to fall asleep," Karkat answered, somewhat mortified.

"Well, you did. You're thleeping in the coon from now on. Got it?"

"Yessir," Karkat snarled sarcastically, and rolled his eyes. "How about, I do what I want, when I want, because I know what's best for me?"

"Well, obviouthly you DON'T, theeing ath you jutht woke up on the floor covered in blood. Actually," Sollux continued, ignoring Karkat's indignant sound, "you didn't even wake up. I had to wake you up or you would have thtayed like that. What did you even do before I got here?"

"I slept in the fucking recuperacoon, okay," Karkat snapped back. "It wasn't a problem before."

Sollux blinked at him, then chewed on his lip and looked away.

Karkat suddenly realized what he had said. "Not that it's a big problem now."

"Sure."

"..."

"I probably should have left a while ago. Everyone'th probably wondering where I am. Everyone being Aranea and nobody elthe, by the way." Sollux's voice sounded oddly stiff, and Karkat mentally curled up in a little ball and died.


	6. Chapter 6

"Sorry," Karkat muttered after a few moments.

Sollux just looked at him.

With an extremely guilty feeling, Karkat drew his legs up to himself and hunched his shoulders. "I didn't mean that. You're not a problem."

"Sure."

Karkat huddled a little closer into himself. "I said, I'm sorry."

Sollux managed to look hurt without moving a single muscle, but gave up after a few seconds, expression softening. "I know."

Karkat blinked and looked up at him.

"Look, we'll... take turnth, or thomething, I don't know." Sollux shrugged. "But you have to not hurt yourthelf, okay? I wath thent here to protect you, but I can't protect you from your own thtupid dethithionth."

It was true, though.

But which decisions counted as stupid ones? Yeah, falling asleep out of the slime was stupid. Made sense. But what about things that he had done before Sollux could have stopped him? Things like...

...things like painting a symbol on the wall in his bright red mutant blood and bringing to life a long-dead revolution.

Maybe it was a bad idea. The whole thing. After all, forty-whatever trolls had died today because he had done that. Peaceful trolls, who probably never would have even thought to set up a peaceful protest or a blood pride parade or whatever they thought they were doing if Karkat hadn't scrawled an old symbol on the wall with his freakish blood at the last second.

He also wouldn't be here. Sollux wouldn't have crashed, his associates wouldn't be risking their lives for him, Nepeta wouldn't be leading a spy squad into danger for him, the Heiress wouldn't be giving up her throne for him.

Terezi and her dragon were on his side- which he was glad of- but only after a lot of convincing. She believed in justice and equality alone, and he knew that the second he went off the line she would be quick to correct him or punish him, depending on how far he went. But maybe it wasn't right to go against the regime of superiority set forth by generations of trolls before him- who, as he knew very well, hadn't thought to try and upset the system.

Except that they had. There had been, in the history of the Empire, a few large uprisings over the caste system and many smaller ones. Of course, the most notable revolution had been when the Signless had revealed himself so many years ago, calling out to the lowbloods of the planets and asking them to rise to the positions they were meant to occupy- equal positions to their highblood counterparts. Second-place came the Summoner's Revolution, when a winged lowblood had mind-controlled a lot of lusii and gathered the followers of the Signless' teachings and tried to usurp the throne. It had failed miserably, just like its parent revolution.

Karkat's revolution- it didn't have a name, it just WAS- probably came in third, but was rapidly approaching second. Perhaps he would even surpass the Signless one day, and maybe- just maybe- he would succeed.

After all, that's why he had done it, right? That's why he had raised his hand to the stone in defiance rather than running and hiding?

It was true, that he wanted to see a world where everyone could be equal, a world that could be if he succeeded.

But what if there was chaos instead? Maybe he was wrong.

He began to wonder if he wasn't a herald of justice after all.

He began to wonder if he wasn't a savior.

He began to wonder if he was an angel.


End file.
